Social Service Duty
A programme for community engagement of the youth to support vulnerable groups in society
Etienne Bordes (2658099) - Philipp Förster (2635299) - Lotte Huisman (2612240) - Yara Langeveld
(2760223) - Michailangelos Pierratos (14501708)
Group 3A (1) - Managing Science and Technology in Society - Jonathan Luger - MPA
25/10/2023
2486 words
, Within this report, the socially-constructed programme of the Social Service Duty (SSD) is presented,
which aims to increase community engagement among the Dutch population by obligating the youth
to perform a social service for a certain period. Through this, social isolation and loneliness of
vulnerable groups and the pressure on existing social services can be reduced. First, the problem will
be defined, after which the programme design is explained. Subsequently, the actor-network
surrounding the SSD and possible technomoral issues are outlined.
Problem definition
Currently, there are several social problems that disproportionately affect particular subgroups and
are deeply rooted in Dutch society. For instance, homelessness is on the rise in the Netherlands, as
the number of homeless people has more than doubled since 2009, which is an immediate
consequence of the Dutch housing crisis (Argyrou et al., 2021). Furthermore, social isolation and
loneliness of elderly, people with low socio-economic status, young adults and single parents,
especially after the COVID outbreak, has become a big problem. For example, at least 1 in 11 Dutch
elders feel severely lonely and most of them feel moderately lonely (van Tilburg, 2022). Additionally,
19% of Dutch single parents and 11% of all Dutch young people of 15 years and older are also feeling
increasingly emotionally lonely (CBS, 2022). Such social isolation and loneliness is often due to a lack
of social support and not feeling connected to one's environment. This is worrisome, particularly in
light of recent studies that show the correlation between loneliness and increased mortality by up to
26% (Holt‐Lunstad et al., 2015).
The customary way of analysing these problems is dividing them into different categories. Because
problems like homelessness relate to externalities of economic or political systems, we tend to focus
on large-scale solutions, while problems like loneliness, which are deeply embedded in our social
system, are treated more like social problems. Mobilising our economies and politics on a large scale
and constructing a more systemic solution (e.g. governmental welfare) seems out of reach, since
problems of political resistance to such solutions are hard to address. However, we would suggest
that attention should be equally focused on the ways to reinforce the social system, as on large-scale
political solutions. Therefore, these problems are not placed in different categories, and will rather
be dealt with on equal terms via social support.
Social support provided by social services is a powerful way to address social problems. Such social
services can address social isolation and loneliness in vulnerable subgroups in society while also
creating beneficial secondary effects. Because social workers deliver a crucial service to people who
struggle in society, they also benefit themselves from their work, thereby making a positive impact
and empowering communities in society (VCU, 2022). By contributing to their communities, their
sense of community belonging is actualised. However, in our vast mechanical societies this is
sometimes not actualised, resulting in fragmentation of communities, poor overall well-being, a lost
sense of purpose, and the absence of mutual support and solidarity among community members
(Michalski et al., 2020). Therefore, what is missing in tackling complex societal problems is not just
the installment of another temporary invisible economic gear focused on solving isolated problems,
but rather a mechanism that will revive the lost sense of community through which groups impacted
by these crises will be equally supported in a systematic way. While social service organisations do
provide a sense of community and try to address diverse relevant issues, unfortunately, they are not
